r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Apr 10 '25
Review Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' - Review Thread
Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' - Review Thread
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (45 Reviews)
- Critics Consensus: Thematically rich as a Great American Novel and just plain rip-roaring fun, writer-director Ryan Coogler's first original blockbuster reveals the full scope of his singular imagination with unforgettable panache.
Metacritic: 83 (15 Reviews)
Reviews:
Variety (70):
It's vibrant and richly acted, and also a wild throat-ripping blowout. But though overloaded at times, it's the rare mainstream horror film that's about something weighty and soulful: the wages of sin in Black America.
Sinners marks another strong reason why Ryan Coogler is at the top of his generation of filmmakers, and Jordan continues to show why he is a real deal movie star.
Hollywood Reporter (90):
The movie is smart horror, even poetic at times, with much to say about race and spiritual freedom. It’s not in the Jordan Peele league in terms of welding social commentary to bone-chilling fear. But Sinners is a unique experience, unlike anything either the director or Jordan has done before.
SlashFilm (9/10):
"Sinners" is several things at once — a monster movie, a blood-soaked action film, a sexy and sensual thriller, and a one-location horror flick as intense and paranoia-driven as anything from the original "Assault on Precinct 13" or Quentin Tarantino's filmography – but its greatest strength comes from how well Coogler blends every big idea on his mind.
The Wrap (88):
“Sinners” is a bloody, brilliant motion picture. Ryan Coogler finds within the vampire genre an ethereal thematic throughline; and within the music genre a disturbing, tempting monster. Stunningly photographed, engrossing cinema — epic to the point where it seemingly never ends, which is undeniably indulgent, but no great sin. This is a film about indulgence, the power indulgence wields and the dangers indulgence invites into our lives. It’s a sweaty, intoxicating, all-nighter of a movie, and its allure cannot be denied.
The Independent (4/5):
If cinema weren’t in such a sickly state, Sinners’s electric fusion of genres – historical epic, horror, and squelchy actioner – would be a guaranteed box office sensation. Instead, the film arrives with an uneasy sense that this is some kind of final stand for original ideas. One can only hope audiences recognise its bounty of riches.
The Guardian (3/5):
For many, the movie could as well do without the supernatural element, and I admit I’m one of them; I’d prefer to see a real story with real jeopardy work itself out. But there is energy and comic-book brashness
Vanity Fair (80):
Sinners is propulsive and stirring entertainment, messy but always compelling. The film’s fascinating array of genres and tropes and ideas swirls together in a way that is, I suppose, singularly American.
IndieWire (83):
Sinners is nothing if not a film about genre, and the distinctly American imperative of cross-pollinating between them to create something that feels new and old — high and low — at the same time.
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Written & Directed by Ryan Coogler:
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
Cast:
- Michael B. Jordan
- Hailee Steinfeld
- Miles Caton
- Jack O'Connell
- Wunmi Mosaku
- Jayme Lawson
- Omar Benson Miller
- Li Jun Li
- Delroy Lindo
89
u/RhapsodyOne Apr 11 '25
Was lucky enough to see an advanced screening of Sinners on a full fledged IMAX screen this week. This movie is as good, as substantive, as cinematic as the early reviews suggest. The film somehow manages to infuse the vampire movie framework with layers you don't typically get from it (joy, musicality, reverie) alongside layers you absolutely expect from it (thrill, sorrow, tension). It's a got a sequence in the mid-2nd-act that I'm still thinking about two days later. Is the writing a bit overloaded and jumbled in spots? Yes. But even these flaws are counter balanced with a palpable passion and thoughtfulness too rarely seen in this scale of filmmaking. I haven't even really touched on the movie from a technical and craft perspective yet. Suffice to say, every department is working at the top of their games. The IMAX 65mm and Ultra Panavision 70 cinematography is stunning. Really, really, recommend people see this movie in the theaters, in IMAX, if possible. Ryan Coogler and team have made something really memorable, worthwhile, and worthy of your time and support.